EU Will be Able to Buy Weapons for Ukraine Despite Hungary's Veto - Borrell
The European Union has developed a legal mechanism to circumvent Hungary's veto on the purchase of weapons for Ukraine at the expense of proceeds from frozen Russian assets, which could also pave the way for the G7 to pay Kyiv $50 billion. This was stated by EU High Representative Josep Borrell, Ukrinform reports.
This path, which will be discussed today by EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg, will also be crucial for the G7 agreement to work and for a $50 billion loan to be disbursed to Ukraine by the end of the year. According to the G7 plan, the proceeds from frozen Russian assets starting next year will be used to pay off the loan.
According to the head of European diplomacy, since Hungary abstained from the previous agreement on the proceeds of frozen Russian assets, it "should not be involved in the decision on the use of these funds".
According to Borrell, Brussels offered Hungary a deal similar to the one that NATO concluded with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban (Budapest abandoned measures to support Ukraine in exchange for not vetoing the actions of other allies that help Kyiv under the auspices of the Alliance), but it was rejected.
"Even if they are asked not to be part of the team and their money is not used for Ukraine... that is not enough," Borrell said.
He added that the workaround is "complicated, like every legal solution, but it works."
As reported, the G7 plan for Ukraine envisages a multi-year loan to Kyiv using future proceeds from about $300 billion of frozen Russian assets, most of which are blocked in the EU.
The Russian Central Bank's reserves and other assets were frozen as part of the G7 sanctions imposed in response to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Around €190 billion of these assets are held in the Belgian central securities depository Euroclear, making the EU a key player in any plan to use these assets. The United States holds about $5 billion.
Hungary opposes the EU providing collective military support to Ukraine and has blocked a number of arms-related decisions for Ukraine.